Emirates Lions back on home soil
The Lions will face the Waratahs on May 11 at 3.05pm. Gates will already be open from 11am as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge match will open the proceedings at Emirates Airlines Park at 12 noon.
Emirates Lions will be back on home soil after their weekly bye and according to head coach Swys de Bruin, everything is looking good for their fixture on Saturday.
The Lions will face the Waratahs on May 11 at 3.05pm. Gates will already be open from 11am as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge match will open the proceedings at Emirates Airlines Park at 12 noon.
Warren Whiteley will also be back and will lead from the front once again.
“We have some of our senior players back in the line-up and will have to bring our A-game when we face the Waratahs,” said de Bruin.
“We are still six points adrift from the South African Conference and I think we still have a chance as this is the half-way mark,” said de Bruin, who also returned to duty as head coach. The 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby tournament is the tightest in years. Four of the five teams involved will be chasing crucial wins in round 13 of the competition on Friday and Saturday.
The Vodacom Bulls play the Crusaders in a vital Vodacom Super Rugby clash tonight in Pretoria. The big match at Loftus Versfeld starts at 7.10pm.
The game is followed by two fixtures on Saturday, involving local sides. The Cell C Sharks complete their Australian tour with a visit to Waikato, Hamilton, where they will face the Chiefs from 9.35am.
The only local fixture of the weekend sees the Emirates Lions in action against the Waratahs at the Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg. The DHL Stormers have a bye this weekend, while the Jaguares, the other team in the South African conference, face the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday at 7.15am, looking to increase their recent unbeaten run.
In the meantime in the Lions’ den, Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx is also back following his rest against the defending champions, while fellow bok Courtnall Skosan returns for duty on the wing as does midfielder Harold Vorster.
The Pride of Jozi have won their last four matches against the NSW outfit. They seem to have a winning appetite for Australian opposition as they have been successful in 10 out of 12 fixtures featuring Aussie sides, although they were defeated 31-20 by the Brumbies in their last such fixture played on April 13 in Canberra.
